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Art Choice

The culmination of a 12-week journey through the Caribbean island of Cuba, Bonnie Dempsey’s film follows the painter Pat Murphy as he creates his works mainly outdoors, in spontaneous, informal situations. The paintings in turn complement the film: made on four 33ft-long rolls of paper, the result resembles a film storyboard that chronicles Murphy’s impressions. Although the artist’s signature use of mixed media is notable, the works have an immediacy and vibrancy of colour influenced by the light and the musical rhythms he encountered on his travels. Both the paintings and the film thus offer a kaleidoscopic view of Cuba through a series of vignettes, from meditations on the revolution to mundane images of bicycles and buses, to stunning landscapes. Although the works do not shy away from the problematic aspects of contemporary Cuba, there is no judgment. Instead, the collaboration